A Hint of Cocoa
by AstroPhantom
Summary: Snow storms sometimes force people into unanticipated scenarios. Like helping the enemy, for instance. - For Christmas Truce 2015.


**A Hint of Cocoa - Christmas Truce 2015**

* * *

Danny was so sick of the snow. He hadn't even been back for half a day, and already, he was putting a death wish on every single snowflake as they floated mercilessly down from above.

He hated how the flurry of them from the impending storm disoriented his vision, making him feel like he was flying in circles. He hated how the accompanying howling wind felt like a freight train of bitter cold crashing into his face, stinging his eyes and the tips of his nose and ears. But most importantly, he hated how the sheer cold interfered with his ghost sense.

Because if it hadn't been for the twenty-degree wind chill, Danny would have distinctly seen and felt his ghost sense go off as he flew over the edge of Amity Park, heading for Elmerton. And in turn, he would have seen the ecto-powered missile careening straight for him that ultimately exploded right behind his back, causing him to lurch forward mid-air.

Growling in pain, and a hint of annoyance, Danny turned around just in time to see another missile coming right at his chest. He managed to dodge this one, letting it burst with a loud bang after it had sailed past him. Two seconds after, he watched none other than Skulker emerge from the white-out of snowy haze.

"Skulker," he shouted over the wind, squinting his eyes in accusation. "Pretty cowardly of you to shoot at me with my back turned."

Skulker only grinned. "I'm a hunter. Sneak attacks are my speciality. Especially when I have the elements on my side as camouflage."

"Which all still amounts to you being a coward. If you're gonna hunt me, at least have some dignity about it and get me when I can see you," Danny taunted, hoping the ghost would take the bait. He just wanted to get this over with and suck him into his thermos so he could get to his destination already.

"As you wish, Welp." Skulker lunged after him, reaching for his throat.

Danny responded by raising his arms in defense, catching Skulker's hands off-guard and wrestling his wrists forward in an attempt for dominance of the situation. Only that left the rest of his body vulnerable, and Skulker took full advantage, swinging a heavy robotic foot forward that made contact with the pit of his gut, causing him to recoil and grab his stomach.

Smiling evilly at his small victory, Skulker then brandished two machete blades from his wrists and started swinging at Danny. Danny's eyes bugged out of his head as he looked up a second too late, and as he tried to avoid the onslaught of sharp glowing metal, Skulker managed to slice him across his right shoulder and down over his bicep.

"Fuck!" Danny immediately hissed in agony and let out a yell, covering his shoulder out of reflex. He lifted his hand back for a fraction of a moment to see his glove already smeared with ectoplasm. And then...

 _BAM!_

Skulker sucker-punched him clear in the face, sending him tumbling backwards in a daze with enough force to carry him across the river that separated Amity Park from Elmerton.

As he fell to the earth below, Danny could only focus on the numbing pain welling behind his nose, which was only made worse by the bitter cold whipping away at his extremities. Eventually his body smashed its way down through a series of sharp tree branches - all which further cut and poked at him - and finally landed with a dulled thud on the snow-covered ground of Elmerton's riverside park.

Unable and unwilling to take further damage, Danny forced himself to turn invisible. Between that and the limited visibility caused by the weather, hopefully Skulker would lose trace of him and give the hunt up for the day.

Once Danny assumed a few minutes had passed, and was certain Skulker had left him alone, he let his body relax and turn visible again. The relief only lasted momentarily, however, as he finally felt the iciness of the snow seeping into the gashes on his shoulder and arm, now bare from his torn-up hazmat suit. He tried to lift himself with his other arm so he could at least kneel and look around, but a jolt of nerves running through his injuries told him that wasn't going to happen. Besides, it wasn't like he could see anything in this storm.

Shivering violently on the ground, Danny's mind clouded over as he seriously considered if ghosts could get frostbite...

* * *

Twelve. Days.

It had been twelve days since Valerie had last seen, or even talked to Danny, and the pent-up desire of just wanting to see her boyfriend's face again made her want to punch each and every single tree as she walked by them along the sidewalk of the Elmerton community park. Luckily for the trees, she was holding a bag of groceries snugly against her torso to protect them as best as she could from the oncoming snow.

Yet she nearly dropped them as her spectral sensor alarm went off on her watch. Her brain came to a skidding halt: what ghost would be out in this kind of weather? As far as she knew, she was the only entity, alive or dead, out on the streets (and not in a car) at the moment, and that was only because it had been absolutely necessary to go get a few more days' worth of food for her and her dad - their cupboards were practically bare and this storm promised to last for a few days.

Turning her back to the wind and shifting the paper bag's weight to her left hip, she shimmied her right sleeve up her arm and poked a button on her watch with the tip of her nose.

Surprisingly, even in the sub-freezing temperatures she was in, Valerie could feel a shiver tingle down her spine that had nothing to do with the cold. According to her sensors, there was a ghost in the park right next to her. Was she being specifically targeted?

Not leaving the answer up to fate, Valerie took a few steps into the park and gingerly placed her groceries up behind a tree, then covered them with her jacket. There was no one around to steal them, but in Elmerton, there was no such thing as "too safe." Besides, the jacket would have gotten in the way of her suit as she activated it to cover her form.

The suit, she had to admit, was much warmer than her jacket. It had been designed to protect her from extreme degrees of both spectral and thermal radiation, since the Ghost Zone was not exactly known for being the warmest dimension. But right now, she needed her suit for something more important than a simple matter like body heat.

Wielding a built-in wrist blaster, Valerie cautiously stepped further into the park. With nothing but trees all around, it would have looked like the perfect winter wonderland if not for the unrelenting flurry of snow and wind. But after a few more feet, it turned into a virtual loaded minefield - her sensors were starting to beep more frequently, meaning that the ghost was very close.

She turned slowly to her right and walked forward, pausing every few steps to adjust her direction to follow the beeping. When the beeping turned into a steady drone, her head jerked in every direction, trying to pinpoint what was setting it off before _it_ saw her.

 _There_. She almost missed it, but right at her feet, under a thin coating of snow, was a lump about the size of a body, with black patches showing through. Her sensors indicated this was the ghost, but...what if it was a trap? She spun in a circle once, aiming her weapon at the treetops for any sneak threats, and then, convinced that she wasn't being watched, redirected her focus to the ground in front of her.

Carefully, she nudged the lump with her toe, and it twitched in response. Before she could nudge it again, its head moved and turned to look up at her.

Valerie jumped back in surprise. Out of all things, she certainly didn't expect to see _Phantom_ staring at her.

"V-V-Valerie?" he managed out through chattering teeth. His hair was dusted with snow and he looked even more pale than usual for a ghost. His eyes were glazed over - he must have been disoriented from being submersed in freezing snow for who knew how long.

But not disoriented enough to not recognize her.

Immediately Valerie pointed her blaster at him. He could be trying to trick her. "Freeze, Phantom!"

He merely gave a strained grin and darted his eyes around at the snow. "I-I t-think I already h-have," he pointed out, then struggled to raise himself up on wobbly arms.

"I said _freeze_!" Valerie was having none of his puns today, and, almost involuntarily, kicked her leg into his side to make him listen, causing him to topple over sideways and roll onto his back.

Phantom groaned and seized his right shoulder as he landed on it, cringing in pain. "Ow!"

It was then that Valerie saw it: two long cuts along his shoulder and arm, and a pool of ectoplasm staining the snow where he had been laying.

Her focus seemed to stumble for a second. Had Phantom just come off a fight? _Were_ there other ghosts around then? Her defensive instincts kicked back in at that thought, and she locked her arm at her target once more.

Only Phantom had seemed to have passed out, either from the cold, or the pain, or both, and Valerie faltered again.

One one hand, this would be the perfect opportunity to take him down with no obstacles. But...seeing him lying unconscious and injured like that in the snow almost made her feel sorry for him. She almost had to laugh at that last thought: _her_ , feeling sorry for _him_?!

But as the wind suddenly picked up and blew sharp specks of snow onto her helmet, her conscience got the better of her. She could always attack him another day, but to get to that day they both had to get out of this storm, and, like it or not, she had to help him.

"Damn you, Phantom," Valerie muttered under her breath, retracting her arm blaster back into her suit and activating her hover-board instead.

She dragged Phantom up onto the back of her board, holding onto the scruff of his collar, and finally set her board into motion, thankful that it could dodge the trees automatically in this blinding snow. As she flew out of the park, she picked up her groceries and tucked her jacket in around her passenger as best as she could.

The ride to Valerie's apartment went rather quickly, seeing as how she had only been a few blocks away when she got sidetracked. Getting the front door open with her load proved tricky, but once inside she was able to fly her board up the two flights of stairs with practiced ease and stealth.

Outside her apartment, she set her groceries down on the ground and unlocked the door, then stuck her head inside the living room.

"Dad? You home?" she called out, listening carefully for Damon's voice. She would have a lot to explain if he saw what she had brought home with her.

When no answer came, Valerie breathed a small sigh of relief and pushed the door open all the way, flicking on the lights as she did so. She then lifted Phantom up and onto the couch, then deactivated her suit and board. The ghost knew who she was - _unfortunately_ , she added - so there was no point in keeping the mask on.

After turning on the heater, Valerie retrieved her bag of groceries from the hall and made quick work of stowing away the perishables in the fridge. As she moved to put the boxed goods away in the cupboard, she noticed a note from her dad on the counter and leaned over to read it:

" _Valerie:_

 _Working double shift all night. Keep warm and stay safe._

 _Love you. -Dad_ "

 _Good_. This was even better for Valerie, since now she wouldn't have to worry about her dad barging in on her and her "guest" randomly. Plus, it was probably safer for him to spend the night at the lab, rather than try to get home on the icy roads in this storm.

"Nice tree."

Valerie jumped at the voice and turned around. It seemed that Phantom had defrosted and regained consciousness. She stared dumbly at him. "Huh?"

"Your Christmas tree. It's nice. I like it," he elaborated, gesturing to the tree in the corner while trying to sit up straight, only to end up wincing in pain as he leaned on his right arm. He grabbed his shoulder by reflex. "Damn Skulker..."

"Skulker? Wasn't that the jerk who handcuffed us together and hunted us that one time?" she questioned.

"The one and only." He pulled his hand away and inspected it, then held it out to show her. A fresh streak of ectoplasm ran across his palm. "He got me good."

Valerie nodded and watched him start to put his hand down, which prompted her to reach out to stop him. "Hey, hey, hey! Keep your ooze off the couch! My dad will flip if he sees any. Just...hang on a sec."

"Whatever you say," he complied with a half-shrug, placing his hand on his lap.

Valerie strode across the living room and ducked into her bedroom, then began rummaging through her dresser for her first-aid kit, sighing. As much as she didn't want to help him, she just couldn't have him bleeding all over their furniture. Besides the fact that his "blood" was green, her own injuries had done that enough in the past. She had to work quickly.

"So...why'd you save me?" As if reading her thoughts, Phantom's question wafted through the wall, and her hands froze on the red case she was looking for.

Hesitating, she chose her words carefully. "I, uh, I didn't save you. I just brought you here. For questioning." She grabbed the kit and shut the drawer with her foot.

"Uh huh. Questioning or not, you still brought me in out of the snow, when you could've just as easily left me. Or even shot me."

"So?" Valerie walked out of her room to see Phantom wearing a smug grin, which she answered with a glare. "I don't wanna end your existence when you're the spoils of another fight. When I do that, I want to do it myself, with dignity and honor."

"Aw, how sweet," Phantom light-heartedly mocked. "Building me back up just so you can take me down."

"Yeah, yeah. You should consider yourself lucky I'm doing that much," she replied, heading back into the kitchen, and then added under her breath, "Stupid conscience." She grabbed an entire roll of paper towels and then hesitated, contemplating, before deciding to turn on the stove to boil some water.

Settling onto the couch, Valerie opened up the first-aid kit and dabbed a paper towel with some peroxide, then paused to inspect Phantom's injuries up close. Besides his shoulder and arm, his suit was covered with nicks and scratches, and the area under his left eye along his nose seemed to have taken a hard hit and was bruising a deep shade of green already.

She began with his shoulder and arm first, and set to work on cleaning out the gashes. Phantom flinched at the sting of the peroxide, but otherwise the two fell into a semi-comfortable silence until he nodded over her shoulder and asked, "Is Fenton a friend of yours?"

Perplexed, Valerie turned around to see what he was talking about. On a nearby branch of her Christmas tree was an ornament frame with a picture of her and Danny making silly faces at her dad's camera. That had been at her birthday dinner, right after they had first started dating. She smiled at the memory, then frowned as she remembered the longing she had felt for him before this whole Phantom rescue had occurred.

"Boyfriend, actually," she corrected glumly, and then sharply added, "And how do you even know who he is?"

"Hello? Fenton Works? Their portal? I'm practically a member of the family, or I would be anyway if they weren't constantly trying to tear me apart. But Danny Fenton's a cool dude." Phantom seemed to almost chuckle to himself, but then picked up on the downcast slouch of her shoulders. "But anyway, you're sad about him being your boyfriend because...?"

After deeming his connection to Danny valid, Valerie focused on his question. "I'm not sad about him being my boyfriend. It's just...I haven't seen, or even heard from him in almost two weeks, and it's gonna be few more days before I finally get to. Surprised you even care to ask though."

He shrugged off her last comment. "Eh, you're fixing up my arm. I could at least show some concern in return."

"Mmhmm." Valerie eyed him suspiciously as she took out a roll of gauze from the case and began wrapping it over a series of bandages over his shoulder and bicep.

He watched her work as his muscles flexed at the newly-added pressure of the gauze. "Anyway, where is Danny? Seems like he went off the grid."

Valerie sighed. All this talk of Danny, which wasn't even that much, was already starting to wear heavy on her heart. "If you _must_ know, he's gone on a two-week trip with his family to his aunt's cabin in Arkansas. Some big holiday family-reunion-type deal."

As Phantom opened his mouth to reply, the kettle on the stove began to whistle. Valerie got up turn it off, and he asked, "What's the water for?"

"For some hot chocolate. My toes are still freezing from outside." She pulled the kettle to a side burner and opened up the cupboard to pull out a red mug.

"Ooh! Cocoa! Can I have some too?"

She spun around to give him a disbelieving look. "You're a ghost."

"Yeah, so? Just because I'm a ghost, doesn't mean I don't like hot chocolate. And I'm cold too, Frosty-pants," he quipped with a smirking grin.

"Whatever." Valerie rolled her eyes, but still complied and took out a second mug, then retrieved two packets of instant hot chocolate from a box on the counter and began to make the drinks.

"So...you and Danny..." Phantom's voice trailed into her ears from the couch.

Another sigh and eye roll. "Ugh! What are you getting at, ghost boy?"

"Nothing! Nothing...you just seem to be missing him a lot..."

Before she could stop herself, Valerie took the bait and let her guard down, mentally chiding herself for letting the familiarity of her home lull her into a vulnerable state of mind. "Well...yeah. It feels like it's been forever since I've last seen him."

"Well, you said you'll get to see him in a few days, right?"

"Yeah, but it just sucks, because then it'll be Christmas like right after, and I've barely gotten to spend any time with him during the holiday season." She finished stirring the drinks and brought them over to the couch, gently handing Phantom one to his non-injured arm. "And...this is our first Christmas as boyfriend and girlfriend, and I just thought it would feel more special."

Phantom gingerly took a sip from his steaming mug, then set it down as Valerie began to dab at his smaller cuts with more peroxide. "That must be rough."

She nodded half-heartedly, keeping her eyes glued on her hands as she felt them sting with threatening tears.

"Well, look on the bright side. I'm sure for every little bit you're missing him, he's missing you just as much right back," Phantom reassured her.

"Yeah right. That's the worst part about all this - right before he left, we...we got into an argument over something stupid. I don't even remember what it was about now, but he left pretty mad..." Valerie's hands dropped to her sides as she finished cleaning his cuts, and she looked past him out the window to try to force herself to focus on the eerie tranquility of the falling snow. That argument had definitely left things on a sour note, but she would do anything to take it all back and get rid of the looming sense of dread clouding her thoughts. She swallowed back a sob, biting down on her bottom lip.

Suddenly, with no warning whatsoever, Phantom was leaning forward and kissing her lips, and in an instant all of Valerie's sorrow was taken aback by sheer repulsion. With a forceful shove she pushed the ghost hard in the chest, not caring about his shoulder or the hurt look in his eyes.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Valerie nearly screamed, pulling out the emergency ecto-blaster that she kept hidden behind the couch and aiming it at Phantom's forehead.

Phantom immediately put his hands up and began rambling. "I-I'm sorry! I just couldn't stand seeing you all sad like that and I-"

She was seething mad, both at what he had done, and at herself for even bringing him to her apartment in the first place. "Well that's not really your problem to fix, now is it?"

"I...I..." he stammered, shifting his eyes around for an answer, before finally sighing and looking her straight in the eye. "Okay, look, I didn't want to do this in front of you, especially not under these circumstances, but...just watch for a second, okay?"

She braced her gun as a flash of white surrounded him and illuminated the room, only to leave Danny, her boyfriend, in its absence.

"It's me, Val. It's really me," he softly offered, his eyes pleading for her to believe him.

Everything came to a halt in Valerie's mind right then. The blaster fell to the couch cushion, and she began to numbly question _everything_ : had she really hurt him all those times? Did he secretly hate her? Why did he hide it in the first place? Was this even-

"I was on my way over here because I wanted to surprise you since we got back early, but then Skulker happened and then you found me and then you started talking about missing me and I really missed you and- Val? Valerie?!" Danny stopped rushing and furrowed his brow in concern at her.

Silence filled the space between them.

His face twisted into worry and panic. "Are you okay? Val, look, I'm sorry I didn't say anything before, and that I surprised you like that with the kiss. But I couldn't help myself. I needed to _show_ you that it's all okay between us. And...if this is about the half-ghost thing, I can explain everything later, but please...say something..."

Unable to take the tension that she was imposing on both on them any longer, Valerie threw all of her thoughts to the wind and leaned forward to once again kiss Danny. She still had an infinite amount of questions, but all she wanted right now was to taste the cocoa flavor on her boyfriend's lips and feel his hands hold her close. Because _damn_ , it had been way too long since she had seen him, and now she felt like she was finally meeting the real Danny for the first time, one that she hoped could forgive her for all those times she had even _pointed_ a weapon at him.

Pulling away just long enough to stare into his eyes and his adorable grin, Valerie whispered, "I'm sorry, too."

* * *

 _Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! This is my Christmas Truce gift for burninginheck on Tumblr, who requested Danny and Valerie, with fluff and/or hurt/comfort, in winter. I hope you like it! I know I enjoyed writing it! :D_


End file.
